Blue photovoltaic cells form part of the design of the Solaire at 20 River Terrace in Battery Park City. (Courtesy The Albanese Organization, Inc.)

Sunshine may not be abundant on a year-round basis, but that isn’t stopping those in New York and New Jersey from installing solar panels. While tiny little solar panels can (sort of) light the pathways to your home, larger ones can run your hot water or even your laptop.

Nevertheless, experts say “size matters” and those with the biggest roofs are getting the biggest electric bang for their bucks. That’s why big box retailers like Wal-Mart are in the forefront of installing solar arrays.

New Jersey is also helping the solar charge by providing big credits for big megawatt generation while the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has a paltry 50 kilowatt limit that’s truly limiting the number of buildings taking the state up on its offer.

In New York, the average cost per watt ranges from $6 to as high as $9 per watt, says Rob Ragozine, president, Donnelly Sustainable Energy Services. The 50kW system would cost around $300,000 to $450,000, he says. But in a market like New Jersey, it brings the price to under $5 per watt. “More competition and larger systems allow the economics to be better,” says Ragozine.

It would take about five years to get the payback in New York for a 50kW system but less time in New Jersey. The variable, he says, is the value of what is called an “SREC,” a solar renewable energy certificate that can be sold from state to state and is generally purchased by utilities that have to show a certain amount of energy created by renewable resources.

Unfortunately, a New York certificate is not as valuable as one from New Jersey because of the larger systems. And NYSERDA may provide a rebate, but it takes ownership of the SREC.

Some real estate owners avoid putting up the equity for installation by simply leasing out their roofs to solar companies. The solar companies handle the installations and keep all the rebates and tax credits while the owner gets lower priced electricity.

According to Lydon Rive, CEO of Solar City, which has 1,100 employees in 10 states serving 12,000 customers, a typical house installation could cost $20,000 while larger warehouses can run $2 million. Instead of the customer buying the equipment, Solar City makes the investment and owns the solar array. “It’s an amazing value proposition” explained Rive. “If you are paying 15 cents per kilowatt hour and we offer it to you for 13 cents, you are saving money and using clean power at no cost.”

Still, Rive said they turn down about 40 percent of the jobs they are offered because solar power does not make economic sense for the building or the location. Tall high rises do not now work well, he said.

That could soon change. A new technology is being tested on the Willis Tower in Chicago. There, a vertical panel has been installed on the side of the building. It acts as a shade for the occupants and reduces the heat load while generating power. “It is interesting technology as the glass is vertical but mounted within that glass are horizontal strips of photovoltaic cells,” said Dan Nall, director of sustainability at WSP Flack + Kurtz, the international engineering firm.

At the Solaire, a LEED Gold residential rental building on the shore of the Hudson River in Battery Park City, blue photovoltaic panels were integrated into the façade. The array now provides 5 to 10 percent of the building’s base energy load, said developer Christopher Albanese, principal of the Albanese Organization.

“It’s part of the design element,” said Albanese. “The photovoltaic cells are blue.”

At the Verdesian, a LEED Platinum rental building also developed by Albanese in Battery Park City, the bulkhead on the top of the building is wrapped with solar cells.

When external shadows fall on a photovoltaic system it tends to have an effect that is very bad, said Nall. “This causes instabilities and makes far less electricity,” said Nall.

That’s because Nall says solar modules are strung together like Christmas lights and if any module is shadowed, those in that string don’t work as well.

An Australian company, Dyesol, is working on a technology that does not need full sun and works through “artificial photosynthesis.” In fact, when installed as the transparent curtain wall itself, the Dyesol glass will generate electricity even from the interior lights left on at night.

According to CEO Marc Thomas, Dyesol is now building a manufacturing plant in conjunction with major glass manufacturer Pilkington, and is explaining the product to architects so they can begin to use it in new high-rise projects.

This so-called dye solar technology is also being wedded to steel in an agreement with Tata Steel in Europe so it can literally become the roof on industrial projects, driving down the costs for those that want to install a roof and solar at the same time.

The many options and companies involved in solar energy led Berndt Perl, principal of APF Properties which owns buildings in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia, to decide to develop an expertise in solar and own their own solar projects. “We had to become solar experts,” he said.

After he and an employee spent about two years researching solar options, they had a problem finding competent lawyers and accountants “because no one is in that space.” “It was a challenge to get the right resources and the right competence,” said Perl.

One of APF’s properties is a 360,000 square-foot one-to-two story former industrial plant that was redeveloped into an office complex. It has a 10 acre roof that is perfect for solar panels. At another suburban office building, they will create a carport installation that provides shade for the cars and electricity for the building.

“I have a very firm belief that we have to push alternative energy,” said Perl who even has a solar array on his own home. “I believe so for the environment and for the children but it’s more than that. I think pushing the alternative energy agenda is necessary for the US to keep its position as a leading country in the world.”

Ragozine warns about new companies entering the field that do not have a track record yet for either output or longevity.

Nevertheless, Ragozine says, “a lot of technologies are being developed and will get to a price point that is reasonably competitive with more traditional technology. There is a lot of research and development going on in the field.”

GETTING INTO HOT WATER

Commercial buildings and homeowners can soon have their hot water heated by the sun and get incentives at the same time.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has just announced a $25 million, five-year program to get property owners to switch from electric hot water systems to solar thermal ones. Some incentives are also available for those switching from fossil fuels.

Hot water heated by electricity represents about 10 percent of the electric bill for a commercial building but as much as 20 percent of the bill for homeowners.

Homeowners and multifamily residences switching from electric are eligible for up to $4,000 in incentives per meter/site while commercial properties are eligible for $25,000 per meter/site.

The NYSERDA project is targeting an overall reduction of 45.54 megawatts by the end of 2015.

For more information: nyserda.org

* Solar energy is measured in kilowatt hours.

One kilowatt hour (kWh) is enough energy to burn a 100 watt light bulb for 10 hours — about the same as burning 170 pounds of coal.

* Albert Einstein was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize in physics for experiments with solar energy and photovoltaics.

* Leonardo da Vinci used concave mirrors to heat water while working at the Vatican.

* Silicon extracted from 1 ton of sand and used in photovoltaic solar panels can produce as much electricity as 500,000 tons of burning coal.